S

ome astute performances and sensible approaches to batting stood out in the weekend games of the TATA Motors JCA League.

In the two games at the lush green and picturesque Cibubur grounds, low-scoring games saw targets being chased down by some intelligent batting by the lower order, after the specialist batsmen almost made heavy weather of the chase.

In the first match between Menara and Emerio on Saturday, winning the toss and opting to field first, Menara did well to restrict Emerio to 145 all out. Despite a steady start by Emerio, Menara came back strongly in the second and third sessions to keep pegging away at the wickets.

Prakash Kewlani (2/18), Harish Tiwari (2/25) and Atul Kakkar (2/42) combined well to share the spoils while the fielders, who let a few slip through their fingers earlier on, pulled up their socks to support the bowlers with some fine catching in the outfield, while also effecting three run-outs.

Dilip Udhayashankar scored a patient 61 runs while Gautam Chakravarthy chipped in with 27 runs. Menara in response was lackluster in its approach with the bat as it gifted wickets away to be tottering at 101/8 at one stage, before disciplined and sensible batting my Subhash Modgil (26*) and Atul Kakkar, who put on an unfinished 47-run partnership for the ninth wicket, helped them overhaul the target in the 33rd over.

Earlier Yash Rathore top-scored with 30 runs for Menara while Harish Vaidhyanathan and Maneesh Dubey took three wickets each for Emerio.

At the same venue on Sunday, a similar situation unfolded when Fez Rebels were set a target of 140 by Chairos Tigers.

The Rebels, who started strongly rushing to 28 runs in only the third over, then started losing wickets in a canter to be struggling at 121/7. Still 20 runs adrift, it took the calm demeanor of Suresh Subramaniam who, while remaining unbeaten on 25 runs, piloted his team home without any further damage.

Warwick Peters (26) and Dan Brown (20) were the other contributors. Juni and Yeri Rosogna took two wickets each. Earlier, opting to bat first, Chairos started well reaching 70 runs before Christian Hirst ran amok with a five-wicket burst in only 12 balls to have them reeling at 73/5. From thereon it was tough going as Chairos could only manage 139 runs before being all out. Hirst (5/27) was well supported by Steve Barber (2/17)

In the game between KLN WISCI and TKCC on Sunday at the GMIS grounds, aided by a fine opening partnership between skipper William Noronha (52) and Viraj Bhammar (38) that yielded 100 runs, WISCI ran up a competitive score of 253/5. Surendran Chandramohan (44) and Gaurav Tiwari (44* off 19 balls ) provided the leather-hunt in the end to help WISCI finish strong as it added 106 runs in the last 11 overs.

Rohan Tripathi took 2/42 for TKCC. In response TKCC started well by hitting the third ball of its chase for a six before a steady loss of wickets combined with some mediocre running between the wickets saw it fold up for 170 runs, short of the target by 83 runs. Mukesh Khaitan (47) and Surendar (33) were the only notable contributors with the bat, while Suhail Modak was the pick of the bowlers for WISCI with 3/33.

At Purwakarta, Indorama defeated Mavecrics by 92 runs. Brief scores '€” Indorama 163 all out, Srikhant (42) and Kaushik (21). Sanjeev Modi (3/17) and Pradeep Patnaik (2/21) bowled well. Mavecrics 71 runs all out.

At this stage of the league, current cup holder KLN WISCI leads Division 1 while Jaguars continue to top Division 2.